With the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program to replace the Army and Marine Corps’ Humvee fleets decided, truck manufacturers are looking overseas for potential customers.
Those companies, like Lockheed Martin [LMT], AM General, BAE Systems and others will find it difficult to market purpose-built vehicles to diverse countries that are set to award fewer contracts for fewer vehicle programs, David Hiley, associate principal of U.K.-based Renaissance Strategic Advisors, said last week.
The number and range of platforms on offer has increased dramatically as countries and markets that traditionally imported vehicles are ramping up domestic production, Hiley said at the annual Tactical Wheeled Vehicle Conference hosted by the National Defense industrial association. But worldwide military spending is on the decline at a time when vehicles are both technically more capable and therefore more expensive per unit.
“The net result of that is a desire by governments to improve their own indigenous industrial capability,” he said.
The lasting effect of the U.S. government’s decision to award Oshkosh [OSK] the $30 billion contract for more than 55,000 JLTVs is unknown. So far neither losing competitor–Lockheed Martin and AM General–has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. Each has 10 days to do so and then another 30 days to deliver a detailed report of their arguments. Both companies have not said whether they intend to do so.
AM General, which built the Humvee, said it was “reviewing the governments decision and are considering all available options.” Lockheed Martin said the same in a statement to Defense Daily.
Even with the introduction of JLTV, the Humvee isn’t disappearing, though there likely will not be any more upgrade or service life extension work available over the next 15 years that sizeable numbers are in service with the U.S. military, said Marine Col. Andrew Bianca, deputy commander of program executive officer, land systems.
“I do not see any Humvee modification or improvement plans in the near future,” he said at the conference. The Army is buying 49,000 JLTVs and the Marine Corps, which has 18,500 Humvees is buying only 5,500 JLTVs.
Worldwide there has been a similar reduction in truck fleet sizes because fewer vehicles can do more missions and are generally more capable than previous generations of tactical wheeled vehicles, he said. Fewer programs for industry to compete over means the market is smaller overall and competition will be fierce, he added. But there will be contracts available for capability upgrades to existing fleets and service-life extension programs.
“There really is no homogenous international market,” Hiley said. “You’re really talking about 30-60 countries, each with different cultural, political and technical background, which faces different threats.”
There are certain trends that permeate throughout that very diverse market, he said. Many foreign nations share the same desires as the U.S. military, including improved crew protection
“Protection and survivability is the predominant requirement that is trumping many of the others,” he said. “The target set, the range of targets and threats facing these vehicles is much broader than that for which they were originally designed and intended.”
The international experience fighting the coalition war in Afghanistan showed the need for tactical wheeled vehicles to operate in harsh terrain that traditionally has been the domain of tracked troop carriers, Hiley said. Smaller and smaller vehicle platforms are being required to provide onboard power generation for dismounted troops, network connectivity, the ability to support command and control systems and data management.
Other common requirements of international truck programs including transportability by aircraft with the vehicle in an operational configuration “have fallen by the wayside” as militaries favor armor and crew protection over mobility,” he said.
“All of these requirements, of course, are trumped by…cost control,” he said.